The government will promulgate the contentious state secrets law Friday, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet will be tested in its ability to create viable independent overseers to check how the state classifies and declassifies information before the law takes effect within a year.
The law lacks detailed standards for determining what information to classify as secret or declassify for release. This apparently led during Diet deliberation to uncoordinated responses by the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito administration.
With the law's promulgation, an expert council to compile standards will be launched. The prime minister will report to the council on what kind of information will be classified and declassified, but members of the council will not have access to individual secrets or know them in detail.